PortEconomics co-director Theo Notteboom along with Lu Chen of ITMMA – University of Antwerp in Belgium jointly published a study in the academic journal International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management on “Cost perspective on the location of value-added logistics services in supply chains”.

The study discusses the location of VALS and its impact on supply chain configurations and logistics costs. In particular, the research focuses on: 1) the importance of VALS in cost terms to the supply chain; 2) the impact of location decisions regarding VALS on the supply chain, taking into account logistics time costs and out-of-pocket costs; 3) the role of the logistics characteristics of products and the nature of VALS in the location decisions regarding VALS.

The study presents an evaluation model for optimising the location of VALS which is empirically applied to the cost flow associated with a container filled with sportswear shoes and is relevant to seaports as many ports are vying to attract logistics activities (see e.g. port-centric logistics) and understanding the required locational qualities for VALS can help ports to target the right activities.

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Dr. Theo Notteboom is co-founder and co-director of PortEconomics. He is a professor in port and maritime economics and management with about 25 years of experience in this area. His work is widely cited. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and a rapporteur/expert to leading organizations in the field. He is Chair Professor at Ghent University in Belgium. He is a visiting Research Professor at China Institute of FTZ Supply Chain of Shanghai Maritime University. He also is part-time Professor at University of Antwerp and the Antwerp Maritime Academy in Belgium. He previously held a full-time position as High-end Foreign Expert / Professor at Dalian Maritime University in China (2014-2016) and an MPA visiting professorship in port management at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. He is immediate past President (2010-2014) and Council Member of International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME). Between October 2006 and October 2014 he was President of ITMMA of the University of Antwerp. Between 2009 and 2014 he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Belgian Institute of Transport Organizers (BITO), an institute of the Belgian Federal Government.

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PortEconomics is a web-based initiative aiming to advance knowledge exchange on seaport studies. Established by maritime economists affiliated to academic institutions in Belgium, Greece and the Netherlands. It provides freely accessible research, education, information, and network-building material on critical issues of port economics, management and policies.